THE SHAME GAME

Published 4:00 am, Friday, December 14, 2007

Photo: Kim Komenich

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San Francsico Giants General Manager Brian Sabean and Giants owner Peter Magowan discuss their announcement that Barry Bonds will be leaving the Giants. Photo by Kim Komenich/The Chronicle
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San Francsico Giants General Manager Brian Sabean and Giants owner Peter Magowan discuss their announcement that Barry Bonds will be leaving the Giants. Photo by Kim Komenich/The ... more

Photo: Kim Komenich

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** FILE ** San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds, right, is helped by trainer Stan Conte in this file photo from a baseball game against the San Diego Padres in San Francisco, Monday, May 1, 2006. Conte has stepped down after 15 seasons with the team's medical department. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
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** FILE ** San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds, right, is helped by trainer Stan Conte in this file photo from a baseball game against the San Diego Padres in San Francisco, Monday, May 1, 2006. Conte has stepped ... more

Photo: JEFF CHIU

THE SHAME GAME

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As expected, the Giants figured prominently in the Mitchell report, and the portrait was not flattering.

The ugliness for the Giants stemmed not merely from names - one, Bonds, appeared in the report 103 times - but also from a section that implies the team turned a blind eye to steroid use within its clubhouse.

The only good news for the Giants is that no current players were named as users or purchasers of performance-enhancing drugs. And after a recitation of former Giants already linked to drug use through BALCO and other investigations - including Barry Bonds, David Bell and Matt Williams - only a handful of new names emerged. They included Jason Christiansen, Matt Herges, Glenallen Hill and Mark Carreon.

That section of the report on the Giants, based on interviews with former head trainer Stan Conte, general manager Brian Sabean and managing general partner Peter Magowan, comes down hardest on Sabean. It said the general manager allowed Bonds trainer Greg Anderson to remain in the clubhouse after Conte expressed concern that Anderson was pushing steroids, partly in fear of Bonds' reaction and partly to protect Conte from being viewed by players as a snitch.

Anderson pleaded guilty in 2005 to federal charges of distributing illegal performance-enhancing drugs as part of the BALCO case.

Conte said he complained to Sabean about Anderson's clubhouse presence as early as 2000, and Magowan said he asked Sabean after the BALCO raid in 2003 if the GM thought Anderson was dispensing steroids in the clubhouse, with Sabean responding he was not aware of such a problem.

Sabean, according to the Mitchell report, "strongly denied such a conversation occurred" with Magowan and said he could not recall a 2000 conversation with Conte in which the former trainer discussed his concerns about Bonds' personal trainers, including Anderson, being in the clubhouse.

A Giants spokeswoman said Magowan was out of the country and unavailable for comment. Sabean did not return a call seeking comment.

In a phone interview Thursday, Conte disputed any interpretation that he placed the onus on Sabean during his discussions with Mitchell investigators. Conte said he mentioned Sabean only when asked specifically if he reported his concerns to a superior.

"I think the report as it pertains to me is factual," Conte said. "I answered the questions honestly. They asked me questions, and I responded and gave them information I had to the best of my recollection. I gave no opinions in regards to how things should have been done or not done or anybody else's responsibility, other than what I was directly involved in."

The Giants issued a statement from Magowan that read in part, "We believe that Senator Mitchell's thoughtful and comprehensive report will serve as a meaningful tool in the fight against the use of performance-enhancing drugs. The report clearly demonstrates the pervasiveness of the problem. The Giants accept our fair share of responsibility.

"Our entire organization, from front office to field staff, pledges to work closely with Commissioner Selig and Senator Mitchell to implement the report's recommendations and to institute whatever reforms are necessary to restore confidence in the integrity of the game."

According to the report, Magowan recanted his most significant statement to Mitchell. Magowan initially said he asked Bonds point-blank in 2004 if he used steroids, and that Bonds replied he did take substances he later learned were steroids.

That would have been an unprecedented admission from Bonds and an acknowledgement by Magowan that he continued to employ Bonds after the left fielder had benefited from the use of performance enhancing drugs.

However, two days after Magowan's interview with Mitchell, Magowan's lawyer phoned one of Mitchell's investigators to say Magowan misspoke when he said Bonds learned the substances were steroids.

Christiansen, a relief pitcher who neither confirmed nor denied the allegations against him in the report, said it was unfair to single out the Giants.

"I think it's because of Barry Bonds, and that's too bad," Christiansen said. "I think as far as naming Stan Conte and Brian Sabean as two guys who didn't do what they were supposed to do, or the Giants, I think that's wrong. Maybe the Giants were wrong by letting too many people in the clubhouse, but I don't think that would deter what happened."

Infielder Rich Aurilia said he was relieved to learn no current Giants were named.

"At least on a team basis we can go to camp with a clear head and not have to worry about this hanging over us in the '08 season," Aurilia said. "At the same time, you know a lot of the guys whose names are on there. You feel for those guys because they're your buddies."

According to the report, Conte met with Sabean as early as spring training 2000 to express concern about the presence of Anderson and fellow Bonds trainer Harvey Shields in the Giants' clubhouse and other restricted areas, mainly because of their inadequate qualifications.

Sabean told Conte that if he objected, he should "order them out himself," but Conte said he did nothing because he got no response from Sabean when he asked the GM for support should Bonds complain. In a footnote to the report, Sabean said he did not recall the conversation with Conte.

A more damning episode occurred in 2002, according to the report, when an unidentified Giant approached Conte in the visiting clubhouse in Atlanta saying he considered buying steroids from Anderson and wanted to know the health risks.

Conte told Mitchell investigators he immediately reported this to Sabean and told the GM he was concerned Anderson was distributing steroids to Giants players.

"Sabean suggested Conte confront Anderson and Bonds about the matter, which Conte refused to do," the report says. "In Conte's view, it was not the responsibility of the athletic trainer to address such an issue."

Sabean acknowledged he also did not raise the issue with Bonds or Anderson and instead asked Conte if he knew anyone who could "check out" Anderson. Conte asked a Drug Enforcement Administration agent he knew to investigate, and the agent reported he found no information about Anderson. This was one year before the BALCO raid.

According to the Mitchell report, Sabean did not confront Bonds or Anderson, nor report the affair to Major League Baseball.

"Sabean explained that he was in a very difficult situation regarding disclosure of this information because, as a result of the clubhouse culture in baseball, he felt he could not risk 'outing' Conte as the source of the information," the Mitchell report said. "He said that if he had insisted on Anderson's ouster from the clubhouse, Bonds would have vigorously objected ..."

As for Giants players, the Mitchell report said that former Mets clubhouse employee Kirk Radomski sent one shipment of human growth hormone to Christiansen in 2002. The report shows a canceled check from Christiansen to Radomski for $1,600 dated July 2, 2002, when Christiansen pitched for the Giants. Christiansen since has retired.

"Let the report say what it wants to say," Christiansen said. "I don't think what I say in an interview with you is going to matter what people think of me."

The Mitchell report also said Radomski sold human-growth hormone to Herges and reproduced a canceled check of $3,240 dated Nov. 1, 2005, after the Giants traded the relief pitcher to Arizona. Herges could not be reached for comment and his agent, Danny Horwits, did not return a call.

Former Giants reliever Jim Brower, a teammate and close friend of Herges when they played together, said he was "saddened" by the news, adding, "I feel sorry for all the parties involved. I don't know the information behind it. I haven't looked at the report. But you never want to see the names of people you know in there."

Brower said the use of performance-enhancing drugs was not a clubhouse topic of conversation.

"I think it's more of an individual thing," he said. "It wasn't discussed, at least around me. It was probably individual decisions that were done."

The report implicates Hill, now a Colorado Rockies coach who played in the Giants' outfield from 1995-97 and reportedly told Radomski he used HGH while in San Francisco. Radomski also reported he sold the steroid Dianabol to Carreon toward the end of his Giants days in 1996.

The report further mentions former Giants Marvin Benard, Armando Rios, Bobby Estalella and Benito Santiago in a section that summarizes Anderson's comments to federal agents regarding players to whom he supplied performance-enhancing drugs.

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